What a Day!

Writers: Anika, Avery
Date Posted: 21st April 2015

Characters: K'ran, F'gren, Biandra, H'don
Description: K'ran's having an exceptionally trying day.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 11 of Turn 7

K'ran

It might have just been an overzealous knock that happened to send the
partially open door slamming into the adjacent wall, but it wasn't.
The stony look on the face of the obviously angry young bronzerider
made that apparent.

"Burith got the all clear from the dragonhealer, why aren't we on the
duty roster?" he demanded tersely.

"Please, sit down, F'gren," the short Wingleader said politely,
staring at the intruder. K'ran let the moment linger before speaking
again.

"You're still ordered to participate in wing drills," he corrected.
"But you're not having any independent duties or Threadfall until I'm
certain you'll stay in your spot in the wing and not cause more
trouble."

Ignoring his Wingleader's invitation to sit, F'gren face flushed with
indignation and ire. "Trouble? I was doing my job! Would you have
me let the Thread get through and wreak havoc below?"

"The point of wings staggered by altitude is that we do have people
below to catch them. Are you saying you don't trust the other wings of
the Weyr?" K'ran countered.

"Judgments have to be made during a Fall," the younger man responded
tightly, avoiding the question and refusing to believe he was in the
wrong. "You're just trying to sabotage my carrier, make me look bad."

"You dove out of place to chase the Thread while flaming. We were
flying above the Queen's Wing," K'ran replied. "What if Burith had hit
one of the pregnant riders, or Faranth forbid one of our golds?"

He didn't want to raise his voice, but he was finding the other man's
inability to admit that he was wrong to be more frustrating than
normal.

"He didn't, did he? You are blowing this out of proportion!" F'gren
did not have the same concern over monitoring his volume, his self
control not being near that of his Wingleader's.

"And you're refusing to admit that you were wrong," K'ran said flatly.
"Cyan Wing has an assigned altitude level. Dragonriders in it have
assigned positions. You left your spot and our altitude, and you got
scored for it. You could have gotten someone else killed." And his
tone implied that was far worse than what had happened.

The young bronzerider was livid, but knew that causing more of a scene
wouldn't help his cause. He had really thought K'ran would back down if
openly confronted. Sadly, he'd been wrong. "Well, I see it differently but
you're the Wingleader. We'll report to drills as ordered."

"Check the wing roster tomorrow morning to see which ones you're assigned
to. Dismissed," K'ran said.

When the bronzerider was gone, the Wingleader took a sip of his klah and
rubbed at his temple. Hopefully that was the last of it.

Before he'd had more than just the one sip there was a bold knock on
the door and a woman in her mid-fourties with short, fiery red hair
and a temper to match entered without preamble. Biandra was a good
wingrider but rather a drama queen on the ground, with a firm belief
that her personal issues constituted a weyrwide disaster.

"My duty to your green, Biandra. Take a seat. What can I do?" K'ran asked.

"Thank you, K'ran," she nodded, accepting his invitation to sit.
"I'll pass that on to Flaeth. I've been patient, I truly have, but
something really must be done about that audacious bluerider!"

"I'm sorry - which bluerider?" the Wingleader asked. He was beginning
to feel trepidation.

"H'durin of course," Biandra replied as if the answer should be quite
obvious. "Ildoth won Flaeth's flight last month, which was of course
positively wonderful, but he's gotten clingy. He follows me around
now. Everywhere I turn he is there. I talked to him of course, but
what does he do? He gets offended and then tries to monopolize my
more regular partners in an attempt to get back at me or maybe cut off
other means of fulfillment so that I will turn to him. Don't get me
wrong," she looked earnestly at K'ran, "I understand he is young and
not necessarily savvy to the way things work but this has gone on
quite long enough! Flaeth is becoming distressed and I just can't
have that!"

The short bronzerider was speechless as he listened to her, though he
did take a moment to steeple his fingers to look as though he was
seriously considering her words. This was an interpersonal problem.
Was it really Wing business?

**If they're distracted in drills or fall, it could be,** he reminded
himself.

"I can assign you to different wing duties, but there's only so much
that I can do about his interactions with you in his personal time,"
he said when she stopped talking.

"Oh, I don't think a change in wing assignments is necessary, but I
was hoping you could speak to him, man-to-man you know. I think he's
probably just young and needs a tad more instruction on social
interactions."

She wanted the bronzerider who had never had a real romantic
relationship to give a bluerider a talk in social interactions? K'ran
looked at her like she had two heads. "And ask him...not to steal your
men?"

}:She is silly. This is not about drills,:{ Rogueth said.

"He's not stealing my men, no of course that's not the situation, but
he's, well, he's trying to distance me from those I've been close to.
It's very distressing and, and well, it's not good for the overall
morale and cohesiveness of the wing," she tried to explain, her eyes
big and sincere.

He still wasn't getting it. Maybe if he just said he'd say
something... "I'll talk to him, but I don't know how much it will
change."

Biandra smiled, obviously content with his answer and came to her
feet. "Oh, I'm sure a word from you will go a long way. I do
appreciate your help," she gushed, fluttering her eyelashes at the
Wingleader coquettishly.

"No problem," he said weakly as she headed out the door. It had
certainly been an interesting meeting, that was for sure.

A very tentative knock on the door followed the greenrider's exit and
the individual did not continue in like the two previous visitors, but
hovered outside instead.

"Come on in," K'ran called, setting down the klah cup. He'd had
something scheduled, hadn't he?

The bluerider entered tentatively. Since his weyrmate had left, H'don
had just had lost confidence. In fact, he found it was hard to do
almost anything. If it were possible, he would just curl up with his
dragon and stay in his weyr.

"You, wanted to see me, sir?" he asked with very little inflection in his
voice.

"Yes, come in H'don. Klah?" K'ran invited. This was something he felt
he could deal with much better.

"No, thank you," the bluerider answered flatly as he sat down, almost
as if standing were too much effort. His red-rimmed eyes turned to
his Wingleader. The sooner this conversation was finished the sooner
he could seek the solitude of his weyr, which he both longed for and
dreaded at the same time.

"I wanted to ask you how you've been holding up. Drills seemed a
little shakey today."

"Oh, um, well I suppose I was a bit tired," H'ron temporized, not
meeting K'ran's gaze, embarrassed that his depression had affected his
performance enough for the Wingleader to comment on it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" K'ran invited gently.

H'ron sighed heavily. "I just haven't been myself since U'jin left. I
don't sleep well. I have no appetite."

K'ran didn't really know how to handle a breakup, since he'd never really
had a relationship either. But he had compassion enough to understand that
yelling at the man to buck up and deal with it was going to be the wrong
response.

There were a few ways he could approach this. Taking him for a drink and
letting him vent might make him feel better now, but might not resolve the
problem the next morning. Ask the man to talk to a Mindhealer was obvious,
but that could also be read as insulting.

But speaking of the Healers...he had an idea. One that wasn't quite as
intimidating as a mindhealer, but someone who the other man could open up
to if he needed. "Have you done anything nice for yourself since he left?"
he asked the bluerider.

"There's a Healer specializing in massage therapy down in the Infirmary.
You should ask for an appointment." And if he wound up opening up to the
Healer at the same time, all the better.

Though his brow furrowed initially, H'ron considered his Wingleader's
suggestion. He really did need to do something and a massage would
certainly be nice. With a nod, he agreed. "I'll do that, and I will
try harder to focus during drills."

"Anything else I can do for you?" the Wingleader asked the other man.

"No, ah, thank you, sir," H'ron got up from his seat and gave K'ran a
nod, sidling towards the door.

"Have a good rest of the evening," K'ran said.

Once H'ron was gone, he gave into uncharacteristic frustration and
laid his head on his desk. What a day! Maybe _he'd_ go ask about a
massage appointment.

Last updated on the April 23rd 2015

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